Star Spangled sinners
Political artist Tracey Moberly is addressing the silent epidemic of hepatitis C in her latest piece Star Spangled Sinners, a collection of silver straws, each with one line of a poem about drug use, hepatitis C, its effects and the ways of contracting it – when the straws are put together as a set, the entire poem can be read. Hepatitis C is contracted through blood-to-blood contact, but it can also be passed on by sharing a toothbrush, razor blade, or – you guessed it – a rolled-up note pushed to the top of the nose, where blood vessels are nearest to the surface. Having been closely affected by a number of friends and colleagues diagnosed with the illness, Tracey became aware that it knows no class boundaries or country divides. Hepatitis C sometimes presents no symptoms at all but may be active and causing damage to the liver for decades, and there are ten times as many people living with hepatitis C in the UK as there are with HIV.
Tracey admits that Star Spangled Sinners is something of a paradox, but explains that “It was made to be viewed as a health warning tool, and not to encourage cocaine use, but help safeguard those in whose lives it is already ingrained.” The straws come in limited edition silver, hallmarked with the initials TM in an upside-down triangle.
Straws cost: £65
Includes Long chains 85 cms
A limited edition choice of 5 straw engravings are:
1) new designer diss-ease
2) see the ice maiden thaw
3) look out honey ...
4) you could fall in lust
5) around for a while...
The poem.....
hcv epidemic's here
hcv epidemic's here
around for a while...
new designer diss-ease
full of debauched guile
a vacuous occurrence
you socially 'drug-it'
fit in with your crowd
augmenting speech & wit
pass around a note
or is it a plastic straw
the white powder will...
see the ice maiden thaw
in most cases it's ...
'vim-talc' special mix
skin up in a few hours
think you've got your fix?
look out honey ...
the nasal epithelium
blood on blood contact
your induced delirium ...
corrosive alkalines work
blood becomes a feature
Trying to remember ...
your first cocaine teacher
you socially 'drug-it'
more tempted by quick sex
a vacuous occurrence
you'll reach the apex
you could fall in lust
then share a tattoo
share a razor blade
a toothbrush will do
hcv epidemic's here
around for a while
new designer diss-ease
full of debauched guile
Tracey Moberly in conjunction with The Hepititis C Trust 2007
